Defenders of Darvin Ham—and while Lakers Nation isn't exactly full of them, there are some whether among fans or in the (generally national) media—have pointed out since the Lakers canned Ham (ha!) Friday afternoon that it's not fair to blame him for everything that went wrong this year. 

Darvin wasn't "the" problem.  The "real" problem was something else. 

The problem there, of course, is that the framing is too reductive. In any season like this one, responsibility for success and failure is spread around. So yeah, Darvin wasn't "the" problem, but he was "a" problem, and the easiest one to fix at the moment. The time will come for players to be held accountable, as the franchise chooses who they'll try to keep, who they let walk, and who they might use to try and upgrade the roster. But the final question is who holds the decision-makers accountable? Is Rob Pelinka going through a process of introspection similar to the one that led to his evaluation of Ham, and the need for his dismissal? How does that process work in the basketball ops department? 

And what about Jeanie Buss? Is she holding Pelinka responsible? Who does she talk with to get a feel for whether Pelinka is doing the job as well as he should? 

What happens if the answers to the questions that aren't about Ham's accountability aren't very good? Or aren't really being addressed at all? What does that mean for the capacity for success for the next guy? 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian KamenetzkySEGMENT 1: Darvin got fired because he wasn't successful enough in his responsibilities this season...that doesn't mean he was the only issue. 

SEGMENT 2: Multiple things can be true at once. SEGMENT 3: Is Pelinka holding himself accountable? Is Jeanine holding Pelinka accountable? 

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